Wednesday, December 05, 2007 @1:39 PM
ok. now to share the happy stuff before living tomorrow for china. overall, the vietnam trip's a very satisfying trip. really gain a lot from this meaningful experience. (:
day one
woke up at 3.30am to get ready to go to the airport at 4.15am, picking up my friend Liu Xuan along the way. the taxi fare was so ex! ): haiz.. no choice cos the flight's at 7.15am and we need to reach early. checking in was troublesome cos we've got so many people.. anyways, nothing much then. riding jet star was a good experience. it really changed my impression of a budget airline. i thought jet star was even better than my JAL and china airline flights! haha. except that a small bottle of mineral cost S$3 which is really too expernsive and so i had to go without water for 2 whole hours. thankfully it's only 2. reached Ho Chi Minh airport around 9+ (cant really rmb the timings) and i thought the airport looks good, except it does not have the warmth present in Singapore. really amazed. after waiting, we were greeted by our vietnamese volunteers. they're so friendly and that's the start of our 5 hours ride to the dong thap province.
along the way, i see the changes from the city area to the rural area. what really amazed me was the traffic. without proper traffic lights like those in Singapore, the people can still ride their way through, especially the many motorcycles and scooters. due to the presence of these vehicles, there's much pollution as one can sense the dust around in the air. and that is when the face mask is put to good use. they come in different shapes and sizes. so cute! haha.
ok. so we moved on and i was looking at the shophouses, the buildings etc. it's amazing that a modern building can be beside another that looks rather run down. the front of the shophouses do not have proper pavements for people to walk on, instead the motorcycles and scooters can just ride there. how dangerous! moving towards the rural area, i see chickens, dogs running around. there are also buffalos to help plough the field etc. so interesting! oh and they have resting areas and there are hammocks hanging around for people to rest as well. omg. so fun! haha.
lunch was at a restaurant beside the river which is famous for their fried fish which stands upright. really cool as the fish fins can be eaten like crackers and they do taste like crackers. a few of us also went to see how they made a ball like thingy from some dough. it was only a little dough and yet it can turn out so big and round in size. ate those for lunch as well and it was rather sweet. (: we tried rice paper and did the wrapping ourselves as well! other dishes also include the prawn. it's the size of my plate and guess what, they call it the shrimp in vietnam. we were shocked. so we asked what's the size of a lobster and prawn. haha. as we had lunch, we see many motor boats passing by with rice grains and stuff. the weather was just nice as there was a breeze blowing by every now and then.
reached the hotel earlier than scheduled. the hotel's like a chalet! and it's so heartwarming because the place was a 100% better than expected. xuannie and i are really lucky cos not only were our beds big, our room was so spacious as well! i had the bigger bed which i think is of king size. never had a bed so big to myself before!! wah! haha.
spent the whole afternoon learning bridge and yes, i'm quite good at it now. (: can remember what we had for dinner but it was at the hotel. in general, all the food provided for us were really wonderful except breakfast. the menu's always the same and the eggs are too oily. had dance prac after reflections.
day two
first day of our working day. after breakfast, we travelled to the headquarters of the school and had a talk by the principal and some of the staffs. after that we walked to the work site, the primary school. we were told the last time they had a renovation was in 1993 so the condition's really quite bad. our job was to whitewash the walls, paint the windows and doors and to build a fence around the school compound. haha, basically it's to just become labourers and help out in their renovation.